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Call it a light-bulb moment, when you realize that a simple change can not only save money — it can also help the environment. That’s the motivation behind an El Paso Electric program called Texas SCORE, which helps schools and local governments achieve their energy-efficiency goals.

The Ysleta Independent School District recently completed a full retrofit of their 61 campuses, updating lighting and swapping new, energy-saving LED bulbs for old fluorescent tubes. The program will help the district see savings in their energy bills for years to come, and it will save the custodial staff time and energy.

“We’re invested for the long run,” said Patricia Ayala, chief communications officer for the Ysleta Independent School District. “The savings will continue year after year.”

Beyond the bottom line, the lighting project helps the district demonstrate the importance of being a good citizen.

“I think all of us are already very conscious about doing the best thing for the environment,” Ayala said. “We’re committed to showing our students the importance of going green and making sure they learn by example.”

She hopes the new lighting will serve as a light-bulb moment for students, too, helping them to adapt good habits. They’ll see that small changes add up, creating a snowball effect.

“Students often model the behavior they see,” she said. “We want to be positive role models for our students. They might be inspired to make small changes at home, help mom and dad save money, and become more environmentally conscious as well.”

According to EPE, Texas SCORE “provides technical and financial assistance to help participating schools and local governments identify, implement and publicize renovation, new construction and maintenance projects that reduce peak electric demand.” Incentives can reach $240 per peak kilowatt, which can mean major savings for big users like school districts.

EPE began working with YISD to retrofit their buildings a decade ago, said Mariah Novela, El Paso Electric energy efficiency program coordinator, and the final 26 schools were retrofitted during the most recent school year. For those schools alone, the new lighting accounts for an estimated cumulative annual savings of 3,132,213 kWh. In terms of greenhouse gas savings, that has the same impact as removing 499 passenger vehicles from the road for one full year, according to the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.

“The program was a win-win for the district,” Ayala said. “We are always looking for cost-saving measures on behalf of our taxpayers, and the district is continuously working to improve its electric and utility usage.” The Texas SCORE program helped with both.

Texas SCORE is part of a larger initiative by EPE in the last several years, to serve the community as it grows, by providing reliable, safe and cost-effective service. The Texas SCORE program helps public and private schools, as well as city and county governments. They are offered assistance in adopting energy-efficiency strategies, then provided with incentive payments for those measures. The upgrades to high-efficiency lighting, air conditioning and roofing can make a noticeable difference in monthly electric costs.

For new construction, the program can offer help with high-efficiency lighting, HVAC and Energy Star certified commercial food service equipment

In addition to the Texas SCORE program, El Paso Electric offers similar programs for residential, low-income residential, small commercial and large commercial customers across its entire service area. These programs help customers of all sizes save money while making their homes and businesses more efficient, which ensures that the savings continue. Customers receive financial incentives, which help to defray the cost of upgrades to lighting, insulation, duct sealing and air conditioning systems.

For more information on EPE’s energy efficiency programs and renewable efforts, visit www.epelectric.com.

Members of the editorial and news staff of the USA TODAY Network were not involved in the creation of this content.